Summertime Dream is the second
novel in my River series, which began with Clear
As Day. I had enjoyed writing Christopher and Margie as friends of my hero
and heroine in Clear As Day, but they
were already married and happily in love and I was busy working on the sequel
to Clear As Day, where again they
were only minor characters. I never intended to give them their own story or
write a prequel. Then I made the mistake of asking my characters how they met …
Christopher and Margie had far more to share than a simple scene of how they’d
met the summer before the events in Clear
As Day. My sweet happy couple had shadows in their pasts and problems to
resolve before they reached their happily ever after. I absolutely loved
writing their novel and watching the two learn what they needed in their lives
as they dealt with the house, Margie’s family, the mystery of Christopher’s
grandmother, and fell headlong into love.

Wishing
you all a very happy New Year!

Babette

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summertime Dream

The
Fourth of July is over, but for these summer lovers the fireworks have just
begun.

An
unexpected inheritance brings business consultant Christopher Gordon from Los
Angeles to quaint Falk’s Bend. He’s carved a week from his demanding schedule to
list his great-grandparents’ house for sale and explore his roots. However,
disturbing family secrets and the sweet temptation of writer Margie Olsson
derail his plans, challenging him to seize the elusive dream missing from his
hectic life— love.

A
recent brush with death shook Margie’s life, but not her dreams and she’s ready
to move forward. Only, standing up to her loving, over-protective family isn’t
easy. Helping Christopher explore the derelict mansion and unravel his
grandmother’s mysterious past should be a harmless fun taste of independence.
But when her experimental summer fling ignites into unexpected love, how can
her small town dreams work with his big city life?

Excerpt:

Margie
laughed. “Of course, in my dreams it was a bit less rundown.”

“I’d
imagine so. Interested in buying?”

“Oh,
if only I could, I would in an instant. I’m sure the property alone is worth
far more than I can afford. It’s a huge
piece of land. And the repairs and restoration...” Longing swelled. She sighed.
Someone else would buy and live in her dream home.

Quiet
fell between them for a while. Bees buzzed in the clover. Birds sang, chirped,
and flitted. A hummingbird whizzed past. Two more ducks joined the first amid
quiet bickering quacks. Dandelion fluff drifted by on an unfelt breeze.

A
truck rattled down the lane, breaking the moment.

“Suppose
we ought to head back...” Christopher turned, so close their arms brushed, but
instead of retreating, he hesitated. Their eyes locked. Where dismay and
frustration had filled his green eyes, want simmered. The heavy air
electrified.

You need a
change.

On
a surge of bewildering crazy courage, she stretched up and kissed him. The
brief brush of lips to lips left her shaken and her heart pounding, like she
had just come up for air.

His
eyes widened in his serious, craggy face.

No,
oh, no. Blowing out an unsteady breath, she pressed a hand to her stomach.
She’d carried her day’s adventure one impetuous step too far. Her heroines were
the daring part of her. She’d never even kissed on a first date before, and
this wasn’t even a date.

Before
the apology fluttering in her mind could break free, he cupped her cheek and
touched his mouth down on hers.

“Summertime Dream is a perfect glass of
Lemonade on a hot day. Simple, elegant and beautifully written. I enjoyed each
scene. Loved the chemistry between the characters and the house. Great story!”
~ Deborah Diez

Clear
As Day,
(★★★★½
RT Book Reviews, ★★★★★ Top Pick The Romance Reviews) is
available now in eBook and print at:

Haunted
by dark memories of her parents' volatile marriage, artist Kay Browning keeps
her heart locked behind a free-spirit facade and contents herself with the
comfortable affair she has every summer with easygoing photographer Nate
Quinn.

The
only trouble with her plan? This summer Nate's come to Lake Mohave to claim the
lover he can't let go. He’s done with the endless traveling and settling for
temporary homes and temporary loves. Kay’s always been more than just a
vacation fling, and now he must convince this woman, who sees love as a course
to certain heartbreak, to take that leap of faith and learn how safe love with the
right man can be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About
the Author:

Babette James writes sweetly scorching contemporary romance and
loves reading nail-biting tales with a satisfying happily ever after. When not
dreaming up stories, she enjoys playing with new bread recipes and dabbling
with paints. As a teacher, she loves encouraging new readers and writers as
they discover their growing abilities. Her class cheers when it’s time for
their spelling test! Born in New Jersey and raised in Southern California,
she’s had a life-long love of the desert and going down the shore. Babette now
lives in New Jersey with her wonderfully patient husband and extremely spoiled
cats.

Sunday, December 29, 2013

As some of you may or may not know, I'm a part of the new indie pub co, Roane Publishing. They have an open sub call for an upcoming fantasy anthology titled Portals, which I am THRILLED about! LOVE picture prompts!Check out the purdy! I hope it inspires your muse - details on submitting can be found below.

PORTALS

A Fantasy Anthology

Submission Deadline: March 15, 2014

Some paths aren't meant to be tread.

Theme: This is a FANTASY anthology with a picture prompt. The picture prompt is shown above. Fantasy tales with romantic elements will be accepted, but the submitted stories DO NOT require a romantic element to be considered.

The full submission requirements for this anthology are as follows:

The picture prompt must be present in the story in some fashion. How, is up to you, the author.

Stories must be at least 5K but should not exceed 10K in length.

All sub-genres of Fantasy will be considered, including, but not limited to: Dystopian, Steampunk, Epic, Sword and Sorcery, and Urban Fantasy.

For this anthology, Science Fiction elements are completely acceptable.

Please email a brief query letter along with your completed and polished manuscript to submissions@roanepublishing.com and put the anthology name PORTALS in the SUBJECT LINE of your email.

Completed stories should be attached in TXT, RTF, DOC, or DOCX format ONLY and attached to your query email. All other attachment file types will be deleted unopened.

Today, I have Lily Carlyle telling the truth of her so-called 'boring' life. (HER words, not mine!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First of all, thanks for hosting me today, Terri! A few weeks ago, I complained to Terri that I was boring, and since Lily Carlyle is a pseudonym, couldn’t I just make something up instead of telling the truth about myself?

This, I fear, is also the dull truth. Like many other writers, I decided I wanted to be an author back in elementary school. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Watkins, was impressed by the stories I wrote (not so much by my accompanying illustrations!) and encouraged my early love of reading and writing.

Someone who was close to my family at the time, and whose opinion my father had tremendous respect for, told us that writing couldn’t be taught, so I foolishly never took a creative writing class in high school or college. I wrote—intermittently—when I had nothing better to do or adolescent angst got the better of me and I vented in tortured poetry.

Convinced that unless one had the great talent of Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald, it was impossible to earn a living as a writer, I didn’t study English or journalism in college. Instead…I majored in history. And when I graduated and found I couldn’t get a job with a B.A. in history, I did the most logical thing and got a master’s degree—in history!

Fortunately, I found a career I enjoyed and excelled at (and that even, barely, supported me!) and worked as an archivist for many years. In fact, I still do have a fabulous part-time archival job.

In 2001, my first daughter was born and I stopped working full-time. Although she kept me occupied, I reconsidered my childhood career choice. I participated in NaNoWriMo in 2003, and failed miserably. Still, I kept writing, but only when the laundry was done and my children or husband didn’t demand my attention.

Over the years, I’ve had several short stories published in the now-defunct True Romance, a graphic novel (Picture Perfect) published by Arrow Publications in 2006, and many, many book reviews published. I am thrilled that “Santa Bebe,” one of my own favorites, has been published in Roane Publishing’s Winter’s Sweet Kiss.

As a writer, I’m still very much a work in progress, trying to find my voice and my ideal genre—not to mention the time to write!

Beautiful,
curvaceous Bebe is disillusioned by men and her belief that they see her only
as an object. She thinks marrying a man with money is the answer, but her kind,
but geeky, next-door neighbor, James, tries to convince her that real love is
out there, even as she reveals to him the troubled childhood that made her so
cynical about relationships. When her mother dashes her hopes for a perfect
Christmas, Bebe turns once again to James, never suspecting that what she’s
been looking for has been right there all along.

Lily Carlyle decided she wanted to be a writer when she was seven years old, but convinced of the impossibility of earning a living that way, she studied history instead (a decision she still can’t explain). In between working as an archivist and book reviewer and trying to keep her two daughters fed, Lily tries to find time and inspiration to realize her original dream.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Each is going to share a bit about their own scribbling sojourn, and my guest today is Annabelle Blume!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Everyone has a different idea of what the road to publishing will be like. Some envision rocketing to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list with the Great American Novel. Others prepare for a long, harrowing journey full of hard lessons and ego checks. I fell into the latter group.

When I wrote my first book, Frozen Heart, I did everything I could to prepare the manuscript for submission. My goal was to get picked up by a small to medium size publisher without an agent. I took self-editing classes from top professionals in the industry. I employed several critique partners to rip apart my story so I could piece it back together cleaner, better, and stronger. I fortified my hope within the parameters of what I believed to be a realistic set of expectations. Then, I sent it out to my first round picks: A conservative list of ten publishers, all of which specialized in romance ebooks. I anticipated exactly ten rejection letters to follow in the next few weeks.

At this point, the story played out in an entirely different way from how I expected or even allowed myself to hope.

Of course, within the first 48 hours I received two rejections. Those emails were invigorating. Rejections meant I was a real writer! I had finished a book and mustered the courage to submit it somewhere, anywhere. But then, one afternoon I opened my email to a long, personalized letter from an editor asking me to revise and resubmit. I thanked her and said I’d take the revisions under consideration. I wasn’t ready to change my story yet. My gut told me that those revisions, though sound and completely understandable, would change the entire direction of my story. I wasn’t interested in compromising the character arc I had created at that point. So, I waited to hear back from the remaining seven publishers.

That was when things got crazy. One request for full followed another and, in a fabulous twist of fate, I ended up with three offers as well as the first revise and resubmit. With careful consideration, and a bit of breathing into a paper bag, I eventually chose the house that I felt was right for my book.

I still look back on that time as something of a fairytale. Getting published was supposed to be something I spent years and years striving for, something that made me tear at my hair and gnash my teeth down to nubs. But reality turned out to be far better than my imagination had allowed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An Unexpected Wreath

By Annabelle Blume

Stella’s got everything she needs
in life: a great job, a beautiful house, and her independence. But on last
minute trip to the local Christmas tree lot she finds something, or rather
someone, she desperately wants - Grayson. An emergency trip to Target, an
unexpected wreath, and a little Christmas magic make the season much brighter.

"It's great you paid attention to
your Stranger Danger lessons, but I'm not a serial killer."

"How do I know that?"

"Because I'm telling you I'm
not."

His lackadaisical drawl infuriated
her."Oh, and I suppose Ted Bundy passed out business cards listing his
profession as a psychopath?"

"Here.” He handed over his business
card. “See, not a psychopath or a killer. Just a guy who owns a Christmas tree
lot. Let's get this to your place before it grows roots, and I have to chop it
down to sell again next year."

The clean, white rectangle in her hand
listed one Grayson Harris, owner and CEO of Harris Enterprises, LTD, as well as
all pertinent contact information. She tucked it into her purse and resumed her
uptight attitude, for good measure.

"Fine, now if
they find me buried under the begonias in the spring, they'll know who did it.
I'm just off clemson Road. I drive fast. Keep up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Annabelle Blume

Annabelle is a best selling Romance and New Adult
author, that is, when she's not checking homework or begrudgingly cooking
dinner. Wife, mother, and creator of alternate worlds, Annabelle has a penchant
for that which is outside the norm.

Her degree in Sociology has given her the ability to
construct worlds that exist only in her head and translate them passionately to
the page. The time spent studying individuals, interpersonal relationships, and
particularly, women, within the constraints of our society led to Annabelle's
unabashed ability to talk about sex as it fits into our modern lives.

She's also the author/personality of The Bombshell
Mommy at Vitacost.com where she helps modern Bombshells and their families live
“green”.

Today is a special treat - Shaya Roy, first time published author! I'm super excited to share this antho with her - I remember my first 'break' as well!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some six
months ago, on a random sunny morning, some nerve connection must have misfired
in my brain. Because I got this sudden, insane desire to actually try to
publish one of my stories. I’ve been writing for years with the intention to
publish something, sometime, somewhere, but I never thought it would be this
soon.

And as soon
as the desire got hold of me, it wouldn’t let go. Since I live in India, the Internet
is the only way I can reach publishing in the US and so I practically glued
myself to my laptop. I googled like crazy and joined various
publishing-oriented sites (AgentQuery Connect was one of the most useful). I
stored away every new piece of information I learnt from wise people on the net
about query letters and publishers and agents and what-to-do and what-absolutely-not-to-do-even-if-you-are-totally-drunk-and-wasted-and-it’s-New-Years-Eve.
Slowly and steadily, I started to understand what people were talking about…and
felt a little less like a deer caught between headlights.

The next
step was mustering up the courage to actually submit one of my stories
somewhere. I’m the look-before-you-leap-then-look-again type, so rather than
plunging myself into the sea fully-clothed, I decided to dip a small toe in the
waters first. Submitting a short story for an anthology seemed a good - and
safe - way to begin. So I trawled around for anthology calls on the Internet
and found The One from Roane Publishing - The One being an anthology topic that
instantly clicked with me, and made me want to write. After verifying the company (and this is important, because
there are a lot of scams in this business), I typed up my story. Edited it. Sent
the finished product to a couple of beta-readers and then half-agonized,
half-disbelieving, pressed the ‘Send’ button. My fingers – and stomach –
twisted themselves into a tight knot.

The next
morning, I saw the email from Roane and the knot unraveled. I wandered around dazed for that day, and
then instantly starting googling what comes next. (Yes, I’m big on research :D)

So that’s
the beginning of my publishing journey. I hope the road ahead is super-long and
eventful and wish every aspiring writer out there all the best! I’ve noticed
that you don’t have to be an amazing writer to succeed in this business (though
that certainly helps!). You just have to trust your instincts and never give
up.

And make the
Internet your best friend ;)

- Shaya

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MELT

By Shaya Roy

Newlyweds in an arranged marriage, Naina and Dev go to the
mountains of Shimla, India in search of snow. Unfortunately, they find fifteen
inches more than they expected.

Being snowed in with her husband is not necessarily a bad thing. It
gives Naina an excellent excuse to snuggle up to her deep, quiet man, but every
time Dev spurns her, a little more of her heart drips away. Melting the ice around
her husband’s heart before the snow outside does might take more pride than
Naina’s ready to surrender.

Although she technically lives in Mumbai, India, she spends a lot more time living in her head, dreaming up fluffy, warm-fuzzy scenes between her characters. The other scenes (the emotional, depressing ones) are directly typed on the computer ;)

She also has a background in psychology and an intense fascination with the mind. Her stories tend to have guaranteed HEAs, heroes who’re mad about their heroines and heroines who’re mad right back.

Thank you Terri for hosting me on Christmas Eve! It’s seems like I have so many great milestones around Christmas. Being born, meeting my husband, and now a book release.

You asked about my path to publication. In one word: trying. Has there ever been an author who said it was easy? If so, reach out and smack them. Their life is entirely too blessed. Honestly though, my experience has been a long learning curve.

I started seriously trying for publication seven years ago. I had the best ideas and knew everyone would want them. This was going to be the best job ever! My plan was to get published and then start having kids. Hello to reality.

Instead I wrote a hideously long book. I won’t even say how long, learning curve one. Immediately, I sought out an agent. Editing anyone? Who edits? Low and behold, I received one form rejection after another.

Okay … now what?

After realizing I didn’t have a clue about novel writing, I went to a cheap one day writer’s conference. The conference itself wasn’t full of crazy inspiration or life changing information, but the networking was invaluable. I met a woman there who would change my whole outlook on writing. She not only became an awesome friend, but a great person to bounce ideas off of. Together we started a critique group, where someone would completely stomp on my dreams.

The good thing about someone raining on your parade is taking the information and learning from it. Show them you can succeed. The best critiques I ever got were the ones that hurt the most. Learning from where not to start my story, to what massive grammatical mistakes I make, to learning people do steal sometimes.

I know. I know. I am not perfect. That's just crazy talk!

I switched genres from paranormal to contemporary - about 4 years in. Suddenly I had people laughing. The knowledge that, despite my short comings, someone was enjoying my book gave me confidence.

Next I joined a few online writing communities. This is where my life changed. I followed authors on their journeys, blogging. I listened to advice and asked questions. Finally it dawned on me. Finding an agent is still a great goal. Getting into one of the BIG publishing houses is still a dream, but there were other missed opportunities.

<Palm to forehead moment.>

Now I was armed and dangerous. I found a publisher that had open calls for anthologies. I wrote fast and furious to make the deadlines and submitted. Despite my short comings – and there were a lot, they accepted me. I think I cried. Too bad that was short lived. Don’t worry though. Although those two contracts fell through, I eventually ( 1 year and one baby boy later) found a new publisher for a new short story. Ta da!

Eye opening experience in my path to publication. Most writers don't make millions. Close your mouth. It'll be okay. I'm very happy. The reason I write is to be happy and share happy.

So if you smile even once during my story, I think the years of stress, doubt, tears, PAINFUL editing, and eventually dreams realized were all worth it. Keep on trucking and sometimes realize in order to get where you want, you might have to take a few unexpected detours.

Angela is in love with someone she can’t have. Stranded in the bitter cold after another failed date, Angela is running out of time. Her company Christmas party is around the corner, and the idea of going with her boss’ nephew is less then appealing. Escaping the cold , Angela jumps into her familiar getaway car to find Nick, her life-long crush, in the driver’s seat. Strategic planning on his part has them finally giving into years of denied feelings. Unfortunately, reality always surfaces. Angela pushes Nick away in fear of losing his sister, her best friend. Breaking Nick’s heart was never part of her plan, and thankfully Nick isn’t going to let her. His headstrong nature comes out and changes the game despite Angela’s attempts to stay away from him. Angela needs to decide if her best friend is more important than Nick, or if she should just give up and resign herself to a life with someone else.

Excerpt

Angela broke off as she heard a chuckle. A male chuckle. Had she gotten in the wrong car? She released the seatbelt she’d finally managed to grasp, which hit the car door with a loud thwack, and shot a glance at the driver’s seat.

Nick.

Suddenly, she wasn’t cold anymore.

“Oh my God! When did you get back?” She flung her arms around his neck. Rebecca’s older brother was a Marine who had been on deployment. “I can’t believe you’re here! Becks didn’t tell me. You didn’t even send an email.” Angela was a little hurt.

“You’re choking me.”

“Oh. Sorry. I’m excited to see you.” Angela let go, happy but embarrassed. She’d spent years squelching her feelings for Nick. She was obviously out of practice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About Michelle Ziegler

Michelle’s imagination started spilling out onto paper the second she could scribble. Her drawing never improved, but her love affair with words continued and evolved as she became infatuated with one story after another. If life could be written, Michelle would write everyone’s ending as a happily ever after.

Michelle grew up in Chicago and later moved to Colorado. Her husband still makes fun of her Midwest accent. By day she is an engineer, wife, and mother to two kids and two dogs. Her sanity survives on the pages she writes, even if her toddler is trying to drive her to the edge one temper tantrum at a time.